heels had been lined up among the floor - duri had disregarded any ideas of flat shoes when he got paired up with jaeyeol to style the other. he wanted to go with something that was a bit out of the box for a male presenting idea, wanting to go to a bit of an extreme - something that was high fashion of sorts. plus, jaeyeol would make the heels work with their rather long legs and that’s what duri had in mind when he had picked the heels out to go along with the concept. to say the least, duri was rather excited about the shoe idea that he managed to pick out when he thought up of a concept, and based the whole idea around the simple thing. duri had also been excited because one of the set items would have jaeyeol draped over a motorcycle in heels, as well. city scenery would also do a lot of work for the shoot, as well as having jaeyeol on the hood of a vintage car. duri was just very much excited.
he had picked out numerous different outfits that he thought would suit jaeyeol - even a few latex, but that was a bit ambitious and he wasn’t sure if those would end up making the cut. but, simply, he had a lot upon the racks that he thought would go well with the shoot. he went through them once again, fingers combing through to make sure he placed everything with what they matched with, and everything of that such. he kept a lot of the advice on fashion that yena had given him, and truth be told - he thinks that’s what has really set him over the top for the styling of this one.
just as he had finished making sure everything was prepared, duri hears footsteps, and jaeyeol approaching. he giggles happily before moving to them, giving one of his bear hugs. “jaeyeol!” he says, a bit excitingly, before stepping back. “i’m really glad we got paired up together, i’m really excited about this!” he said, before moving to the side. “ta-da! i have a bunch of stuff picked out for the concept and i have to apologize now, i hope you can work in heels. if i have to carry you around the set, i’ll be sure to do it!”
AHN SANGWOOK — AESTHETIC #1 & SELF-PARA #1 (BASE X EXCLUSIVE: GROUP PICTORIAL)
to his dismay, polaris gets the short end of the stick in his not-so-humble opinion and has to work on a simple basketball fashion concept for the magazine pictorial. alex is more worried about how this will affect his relationship with the sport since they'll have to spend the day pretending to play, and while in there he has a very egocentric monologue about the things he does out of obligation and the things he does for pleasure. nothing much changes in the end, because his passion for the sport might seem frail but it's stronger than most of his interpersonal relationships at this point.
wc: 453
alex thinks this is the most basic they could ever go for a photoshoot, and part of him is annoyed. polaris, with their thunderous popularity and millions of followers settling with something as simple as a basketball fashion concept of all of the things. it was slightly frustrating for the guy who became so used to being dressed in fancy clothes and sport a more refined concept.
luckily for him and for whoever had this genius idea, alex can wear anything and still look amazing in it. no one would have a hard time picking nice pictures if he’s in it. it’s the promise he can offer.
alex started playing basketball when he was a teenager, and he easily turned out to like the sport quite a bit as time passed by. he was already naturally lean and agile, he occasionally liked to run, and it was very good for him to have something other than practices to focus on. he didn’t have much time to do anything else, but whenever he got the chance, basketball was his bliss. even now, after debuting and becoming worldwide famous, alex still got some time to separate his dreadful work from the simpler times of shooting a ball in a loop.
because this is alex, and he knows himself, upon realizing what kind of thing they were going to be put through, he felt upset. not only because it felt so ordinary compared to what polaris had done in the past, but because this whole photoshoot thing stood very close to the line of his obligations and his joy. now that he’s experiencing this, things couldn’t be more different.
alex has been in photoshoots before, of course. he has an actor’s face and the structure of a model, and dimensions isn’t stupid to not take advantage of that when they can in group shots. taking pictures is an endless game of doing what the photographer tells him to and try his hardest to not look bored or like he’s spacing out unless it’s asked of him. chin up, head cocked, finger near his face, all that sort of thing. this is the same thing.
“try to look laid back, lean your head back and pretend you just scored big, whip the inexistent sweat dripping from your forehead.” it’s about the clothes they are using as much as how hot they can manage them to look, and in alex's case, it’s not that’s not a difficult job.
when it’s all said and done, when they are packing their stuff to leave, he even manages to score a couple of points, and his conscience is clear that at least this wasn’t ruined by the demands of his job.
— aesthetic 006: famed base magazine solo pictorial
yena went with a heavily y2k retro school girl inspired look, complete with checkered patterns, tennis skirts, pigtails, sweatervests, headbands knee high socks and all the cliché’s that come with the trope. as her biggest inspirations, yena cites the movie clueless and olivia rodrigo’s sour album (ooc, sunmi’s noir/you can’t sit with us and purple kiss’ zombie also lightly inspired this though that’s not canon). the photoshoot itself is meant to mimic a school notebook, with a paper background filled with silly doodles, stickers and little writing and the pictures of yena layered over top a cutout of a magazine, completing that heavily romanticized american high school look that’s all the rage currently.
styling’s not so hard when she’s subjected to a line of clothes — pieces borrowed and taken from the releases of this season. a new line of muted beiges, and ivory blends leads her fingers to graze upon each piece, eyes holding onto the small details of the pieces.
her eyes rove over back to her model of the day, haru. “you’re going to have base makeup today — nothing fancy, nor a touch of a smokey eye.” minjung begins, her voice courteous as she relays the sentiments one by one to the makeup staff bustling in the background. “clothing wise, i’m going to dress you like i dress myself everyday. there’s something wonderful about a nice pair of beige slacks — especially when they look like they’re ballooning from your legs.”
it’s an ode to her favorite: pheobe philo as her fingers rummage through the beiges, plucking out one pair of pants and an oversized white button-up. she hands it over to the younger idol, her eyes glazing over, a gummy smile painting still. “you’re lucky, you have legs like a giraffe — i’m willing to put my cards on modeling coming easy to you.”
deadline: october 16, 2021, at 11:59pm edt / october 17, 2021, at 12:59pm kst.
news outlet exclusive and joint idol multi-media project base are collaborating to release a special one-issue magazine that will highlight idols under bc, dimensions, and gold star. the magazine will not only feature photos and content of all of the idols under all three companies, but they’ll get to stretch their legs creatively as well as some take on the role of fashion editors and creative directors for their own content.
the more cynical have said this is an attempt by the three companies to get on exclusive’s good side, but, for the most part, fans are buzzing with excitement at the news of more content from their favorite idols.
throughout the month of september into early october, idols under all three companies will be participating in schedules for the special magazine.
in-’verse info
idols under the three companies have been scheduled for various gigs as a part of the special magazine release. these activities will be scheduled over the course of six weeks from the beginning of september to mid-october.
opportunity one: group pictorial
for the special magazine, the team has recruited top photographers and creative directors that have worked with several of the top fashion magazines in korea to craft pictorial concepts for each group under the three companies. each company will shoot a pictorial for the magazine.
note: for the purposes of this, concept references should not be taken as exact mirrors of the photo shoot. they may be solo or pair shoots while the ones in-’verse are group shoots, but they’re meant to symbolize the wardrobe, feeling, and setting of the photo shoots more than exact photos taken during the shoots.
- 1a. a solo of 400+ words about some element of the pictorial shoot: 2 points
- 1b. a thread of at least six posts with a member of the same group during the pictorial shoot: 2 points
opportunity two: solo interview
there will be a series of individual interviews with idols. for those who also do a solo pictorial, this will accompany that spread. for those who don’t, the interview will be included in alongside their group spread. each idol will be asked ten questions, with seven being standard interview questions across all idols being interviewed and three being original questions created by the mun uniquely related to the muse:
- what one word or phrase would you use to describe your 2021?
- how have you and your group grown this year?
- what has been your muse-have fashion item recently?
- how would you describe the concept of your solo pictorial and how you came up with it? / (if you do not plan on muse doing a solo pictorial:) how was your group photo shoot? what were your thoughts about it and during it?
- talk about your exclusive x base stage performance. / (if you do not plan on muse doing an exclusive x base stage performance) in your opinion, what are your strengths and weaknesses as a person and as a celebrity?
- what are you most interested in these days?
- what is something you want to do in the future?
- three individualized interview questions created by mun. avoid controversial, confrontational, or private questions. these may be on topics such as their solo work, things related to their image, general questions on interests and hobbies, or expansions on the six standard questions.
points:
- 2a: complete the ten-question interview: 3 points.
opportunity three: solo pictorial
idols will also be given the opportunity to help serve as fashion editors and stylists for their own solo pictorial. while the main team of professionals hired for the magazine will get final say, this is the most creative controls idols have probably had over a pictorial in their careers up to this point. not all idols will have a solo pictorial in the magazine; muses/muns who do not complete both steps of this opportunity will not canonically have one.
please keep in mind the pictorial cannot be controversial, crude/vulgar, image-damaging, etc. and content such as nudity, smoking, etc. would not be allowed. this is meant to “show their creativity”, but idol image is always a limiting factor. the group pictorial references are a good reference for acceptable tone and content.
the budget will allow travel within 2,500 kilometers of seoul for each solo pictorial if the idol desires to shoot on-location somewhere.
points:
- 3a. post an aesthetic showcasing the solo pictorial and include a description of the concept: 1 point.
- 3b. a solo of 400+ words about some element of the pictorial shoot: 2 points
opportunity four: exclusive x base stage
exclusive will be releasing a series of ‘exclusive x base stage’ videos to their youtube channel. this will involve performances videos by idols under the companies. examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
idols will get to have a hand in the creative direction for the stage set up, location, and styling for their stage if they wish, but this is optional. travel for an on-location shoot is possible, but the budget will only allow travel within south korea.
muses who have solo original music claims released already may perform an original song if they choose to do this. it does not have to be a single and also may be an ost they sang. otherwise, muses may do a cover of a song.
for covers, please remember to try to avoid songs that are claimable but have not been claimed yet, though there’s more flexibility with songs that are able to be claimed but are less likely to (ex. more recent releases by veteran ballad artists). some suggestions for covers of non-claimable songs are songs by non-korean industry artists, songs originally by bands or with more than three main artists, songs released prior to december 2009, and canonically released / claimed and released songs.
not all idols will have an exclusive x base stage video; muses/muns who do not complete both steps will not canonically have one.
points:
- 4a. post an aesthetic showcasing the stage concept and include a description of the concept: 1 point.
- 4b. write a solo of 400+ words about some element of the exclusive x base stage shoot.: 2 points
opportunity five: online exclusive
there will also be another online exclusive video related to the creation of the special magazine.
idols will be paired up and will spend the better part of the day together in a typical photo shoot studio setup. one idol will be asked to direct the styling and the hair and make-up of the other idol to their taste from what’s available to them, and they’ll be able to play around with the studio backdrop, props, lighting, etc. as well. they will then serve as the photographer and take a few pictures of the idol they styled. this is meant to be a light-hearted video series and the concepts aren’t expected to be as serious or professional as the actual solo pictorials. the focus is instead on feeding fans more content and giving unexpected interactions between idols. a video of the process as well as a few of the final photos will be uploaded to exclusive’s website.
idols will be randomly paired, so though anyone can get paired up, for the sake of branching out, this must be completed between two muses who haven’t yet threaded since the restructuring. it’s encouraged this be muses who haven’t interacted much in general before, but that part won’t be enforced.
points:
- 5a. a thread of at least six posts taking place during this filming. (may be completed twice, once as the muse being styled and once as the muse doing the styling, though each must be partnered with a different muse).
points roundup
total available points: 17 points (none of the prompts count toward monthly limits.)
+2 points: 1a. group pictorial solo
+2 points: 1b. group pictorial thread
+3 points: 2a. solo interview
+1 points: 3a. solo pictorial aesthetic
+2 points: 3b. solo pictorial solo
+1 points: 4a. exclusive x base stage aesthetic
+2 points: 4b. exclusive x base stage solo
+2 points (up to 2x for a total of 4 points): 5a. online exclusive thread
as always, please don’t feel pressured to do everything. you may pick and choose what you have muse for!
can’t help it when his eyes read hours ahead of what he’s supposed to be doing in the current moment, and especially can’t help when his eyes remain keen to any familiar names lurking on the list. somehow, he manages to stay lucky when the stylings consist of one name he recognizes, a name he’s friendly with. and today’s course of events are expected to run smoother than usual, an easy run-through of publicized friendships when the roles fall off-screen just as quick as they fall on.
yejun — the name pulls years of half-baked memories, lost through the time when taejin was barely a fresh face in a sea of idols, and yejun the same. the same age, and the facet of sharing the same number of years hold more sentimentality than he’d initially thought — it carries on all the way to present day.
by the time he’s walking past the doors and into the room, his mind forgoes any of the racks of clothing on the room, leaving it all out for a greeting, hands up. “yejun — i saw you were styling me, and granted, i’m glad to know i’m in the right hands.”
the camera follows her the minute yuna steps into the studio.
a quick bow, but low enough to be respectful, candy’s go yuna introduces herself clearly. she sets her bag and comically oversized water bottle down on a chair marked with her name, and straightens up, surveying her surroundings. yuna’s aware of everyone’s watching her, the quiet hum of background conversation in the room having dissipated the moment she’d stepped in, and offers them her best and brightest smile.
“are you all tired? it’s early-- are we the first ones today?” nods from the staff. “oh, wow. i’m so sorry,” she chuckles. “um, i think you can relax for a bit. i just texted @fmdxsuji-unnie-- her car was in traffic 10 minutes ago, but i think she’ll be here soon-ish.” she holds her phone up like she’s a beauty youtuber to show the open kakaotalk conversation, and addresses the cameras.
“i’m really glad i got paired up with her-- we have a couple mutual friends and we’ve spoken a few times, so at least i’ll be getting styled by someone i know.” good content is having to talk by yourself like you’re carrying on a conversation with the camera, and yuna’s her own best conversationalist. she settles herself in the middle of the set, and starts talking to the camera about related topics like what sort of styling she typically likes and was hoping to try out today to fill the time.
“perhaps i should be thankful that i’m not being put in a bag at least? right?” with her brows furrowed, suji took a look down at her outfit and the way she was styled. this wouldn’t be the first time that she and the rest of the group had been subjected to some wacky styling. that didn’t mean she enjoyed any of it. it’s gotten to the point where she’s stopped talking about it especially since she knows it may upset the people she works with, but she’s always just been a fan of simple clothing.
clearly, she debuted in the wrong group in that sense.
with a hum, she took a look at her groupmate’s outfit which wasn’t much different to her’s—purposely, of course, since it seems quite on concept. she chuckled before reaching over to give chiaki a half hug. “how long do you think this shoot will take? a few hours? the whole day?” pursing her lips, she looked over at the concept board. there was never a clear answer when it came to shoots like this.
